Savage Beloved (30 page)

“And that is?” Two Eagles asked, smiling down at her.

“When I lost my beloved grandfather and was missing him so much, one night as I lay in my bed looking out my bedroom window, something caught my attention in the sky. It was a star that I had never seen before. It was so bright! Suddenly I thought of my grandfather and felt it was he looking down at me. To me he was that star.”

“And so you have the same feelings we Wichita have about that star. It is not always superstition that brings such tales from our hearts, but something very real,” Two Eagles said softly. “That star brought your grandfather back to you that night. He is there now, as well, smiling down at you from the heavens.”

“That is so beautiful,” Candy murmured. “I love everything you tell me, whether it is myth or real. I long to be able to sit with the other women as we sew and bake and be as knowledgeable about such things as they.”

“There is so much to tell you,” Two Eagles said. “To feed a man or woman, to pray for him, to teach him—these are the greatest things anyone can do in the eyes of
Tirawahut
, our people’s Great Spirit. In doing so, those who give willingly to others receive a blessing in some form, themselves.”

They both went silent as Two Eagles rode into the village, his warriors disbanding on either side as they rode to their tepees and families.

His tepee was at the far side of the village, so it took him longer to reach his home, but he was always glad of its position. This way, he was able to see how everyone had fared while he was gone. It seemed that all was well tonight, which made him smile.

He rode onward, then just as he started to go to his corral, he saw something that disturbed him.

Bold Bear, the warrior he had left to guard Hawk Woman, was gone, and no one was there to take his place.

Nor was any smoke spiraling from the smoke hole
of the lodge where Hawk Woman had been held captive.

Then he saw Bold Bear running toward him. Many other people stepped from their lodges at the same time, their eyes directed toward Two Eagles.

All the while the drumming continued somewhere in the village.

“My chief!” Bold Bear cried, waving down Two Eagles.

“I wonder what’s wrong,” Candy said, hearing a strange desperation in Bold Bear’s voice.

“I am not certain,” Two Eagles said. He gazed into her eyes as he slid away from her and dismounted, then lifted his arms up for her.

She slid from the horse into his arms just as Bold Bear came up and stood stiffly before them, his eyes gazing uneasily at Two Eagles.

“My chief, she is gone,” Bold Bear said, lowering his gaze.

“Who . . . is . . . gone?” Two Eagles demanded, even though he already knew. He turned slow eyes to the dark tepee, then looked again at his warrior.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“My daughter, Evening Star, was injured,” Bold Bear said. He swallowed hard. “I was summoned. I went to her. I completely forgot about Hawk Woman and my assignment to guard her until you returned.”

“Are you saying that she escaped?” Two Eagles asked, doubling his hands into tight fists at his sides. “You let that woman escape?”

Bold Bear nodded. “She has been gone now for some time, and she fled on one of your favorite
steeds,” he said. “I apologize. What can I do to correct my mistake? When you are a father, you will understand and see how a daughter comes first over everything else, especially if that daughter has been injured.”

Seeing his warrior’s despair, Two Eagles realized that he had not yet inquired about Bold Bear’s daughter’s welfare. “And Evening Star?” he said, unfolding his hands and lifting them to Bold Bear’s bare shoulders. “How is she?”

“She is resting in her own bed in my tepee,” Bold Bear said. “Crying Wolf cared for her and prayed over her. Even now the drums are playing to
Tirawahut
, so that my daughter will be stronger on the morrow.”

“I am glad that her injury will mend,” Two Eagles said, nodding. “And do not fret so much over our loss of Hawk Woman. Her escape takes the burden from my shoulders as to how she must pay for her sins against my woman.”

“Several warriors left and searched for Hawk Woman but could not find her,” Bold Bear said. “She seems to have disappeared into thin air.”

“Wherever she is, I am glad she is not here any longer to wreak havoc on our village,” Two Eagles said thickly. “But I do regret the loss of my prized steed.”

“I have already replaced it with one of my own,” Bold Bear said. “That is the least I can do after leaving Hawk Woman unguarded.”

“That is not necessary,” Two Eagles said, dropping his hands from his warrior’s shoulder. “You
take that horse and give it to your daughter so that she will have a horse of her own. Tell her it is a gift from both her father and her chief.”

“You will do this for me . . . for my daughter, after I did not do as I was supposed to do?” Bold Bear said, marveling over his chief’s kindness.

“The horse now belongs to Evening Star,” Two Eagles said, smiling. He gazed over at Candy. “I have other things on my mind. Tomorrow is the day your chief will take himself a wife.”

Bold Bear smiled broadly. “I will spread the word,” he said. “Tomorrow will be a special day, not only for our chief but for all of our people. It is always a good day when a chief takes a wife, especially a chief as beloved as you.”

Candy blushed as Bold Bear gazed into her eyes, smiled, then turned and ran around the village, shouting the news for everyone to hear.

Two Eagles took Candy by the hand and led his steed to his corral. Then he went to their lodge, led her inside, and tied the entrance flap closed.

Candy turned to Two Eagles as he placed his arms at her waist. “I am so happy,” she sighed when he pulled her closer and gave her a meltingly hot kiss.

But Two Eagles realized how tired Candy was and did not venture farther than the kiss.

He lifted her into his arms and carried her to their bed, then gently laid her down on it.

He went and placed more wood on the fire, then stretched out beside Candy.

He smiled when he heard more drums now, and singing, for everyone was celebrating his wedding
day. It would not be long before the moon would disappear and the sun would replace it in all its glory.

“Tomorrow I become a bride” were Candy’s last words before falling into a deep, sweet sleep, with Two Eagles nestled close.

“Yes,
nahosah
, tomorrow,” he said, drifting off to sleep himself with one arm draped across his woman.

I love your arms when the warm, white flesh
Touches mine in a fond embrace.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Many years later

January, the moon of Difficulty

It was a crisp, clear night. A group of wolves stood among soft shadows thrown by the three-quarter moon of this brand-new year.

Sitting by the warm fire in the tepee, Candy smiled at the sound of the wolves. She knew that Shadow was among them, a part of the pack now, as were the offspring she’d borne over the years.

Ho
, yes, it was a new year, and Candy was thrown back in time to the New Year celebrations of her past at forts where her father had been stationed.

Last night, at the Wichita village, there had been
no celebration as December turned into January, bringing with it the new year.

But she needed nothing else to celebrate when she had everything she had ever wanted. She had a wonderful marriage of eight years, and two beautiful children.

Both of their children had their father’s skin color, and their seven-year-old son, Leaping Deer, even had Two Eagles’s midnight-black eyes and hair.

But their daughter, Gentle Rose, had Candy’s blue eyes, which were beautifully set off by the copper of her skin and the darkness of her hair which she wore in two long braids.

Candy’s hair was long again, and like her daughter, she wore it in two long braids down her back.

Spotted Bear was a big part of the Wichita’s lives; no one even noticed his disfigurement any longer. His happiness made Candy so proud because she had helped make it possible.

Her thoughts drifted to something else. She could not help smiling as she thought about the tattoo on her right breast. Although she had the same three concentric circles around one nipple that were required of all Wichita women, she had one more tattoo.

To pay homage to the name Painted Wings, which everyone now called her, she had requested a tattoo in the shape of a butterfly on one of her ankles. It was very tiny and beautiful, one she proudly displayed as her chieftain husband’s wife.

And then there was Shadow. Candy did not get to see her wolf as often as she would like, but enough
to keep track of her and her various litters; she had now given birth to twelve pups. One of these, a male, was as white as the whitest snows of winter, with its father’s mysterious blue eyes.

It was that wolf, who was the oldest of them all, having been born several minutes before the others of the same litter, that seemed to be in charge of the rest. Like his father, he seemed born to lead.

At this moment, both of Candy’s children were out in the snow, sometimes sledding, sometimes skating on the frozen ice in the nearby lake, or having snowball fights.

All of those things kept them coming and going from the tepee to change into dry clothes.

She didn’t mind their changing clothes so often. She was an expert seamstress now and enjoyed making clothes, especially dresses for herself and her daughter. She had learned the art of beading, and all of the family’s clothing was beautifully decorated with beadwork.

She was sitting beside a cozy fire, stringing beads on a length of thread.

She loved the dizzying array of colors, which would grace the matching dresses she had planned for her daughter and herself.

When she dropped a bead and it rolled toward the fire, Two Eagles came into the tepee just in time to rescue it.

Candy smiled up at him, seeing how his copper cheeks had a rosy tint to them from the cold. “Thank you,” she said, taking the bead as he gave it to her.

She gazed at his moccasins, which had snow
caked on them. He quickly removed them and set them close to the fire, replacing them with dry ones.

“How are the children?” she asked, maneuvering the lost bead onto her string. “Do you think they have been out there long enough? The wind has picked up. Hear how it is howling around the lodge?”

“I imagine they will come in soon, for the wind is colder now,” Two Eagles said as he removed his fringed jacket and laid it close to the fire to dry.

After lifting a large log onto the flames, he sat down beside Candy. “And how is the child in your belly faring?” he asked, reaching over and placing the palm of his hand on the round swell of her stomach.

“When spring comes, making everything beautiful, our child will be another flower to add to the wonders of nature,” Candy murmured. “It will be another daughter. I feel it in the way it kicks just like our first daughter did.” She laughed softly. “Sometimes it feels as though it is trying to kick a rib out of place.”

“I would say we are having a strong son instead of a daughter,” Two Eagles said, smiling proudly.

“
Ho
, perhaps,” Candy said. She set her beading aside and scooted closer to Two Eagles, nestling in his arms as he reached out and embraced her. “I am so happy. Things are wonderful, Two Eagles. I feel so blessed.”

“Life is good to us all,” Two Eagles agreed. “Not only our family, but all of our village. We continue to have abundant harvests, and the hunts are always
good, even though the buffalo are fading from this area. As the white settlers encroach more and more on what was once only the land of the Wichita, I see few buffalo.”

“They kill buffalo when they don’t need to,” Candy said tightly. “I believe they do this only to keep the buffalo from our people. It is disgraceful. I wish I could do something to stop such waste, but I would not dare appear before the President in Washington dressed in doeskin. I would be seen as a traitor to my country and perhaps locked up forever.”

“Do not worry about such things as the dissappearence of the buffalo, or anything else that has to do with matters in Washington,” Two Eagles said. “Being a wife and mother is the best thing a woman can be.”

“
Ho
, I know, and as I said before, I am so very, very happy with my life,” she said. She turned her eyes up to look into his. “My husband, it is a new year. It will be as good to us as all years past. I feel it in my bones.”

“
Ho
, or even better,” he said, chuckling.

“I must admit that I miss one thing,” Candy said in a teasing fashion, for she did not miss what she was about to tell him at all. It just seemed strange not to be a part of a New Year’s celebration as she had celebrated each new year when she was growing up.

“And that is?” he asked. “Tell me, and I shall see that you have it.”

Candy leaned away from him.

She moved to sit in front of him, feeling the fire
warm on her back. “I doubt you can,” she said, looking mischievously into his eyes.

“I will try if you will only tell me what you are talking about,” Two Eagles said, taking her hands in his.

“I miss the fireworks that my father and the soldiers at the forts always shot off on New Year’s Eve,” she said, in her mind’s eye recalling how beautiful the fireworks looked against the dark heavens.

“Fireworks?” Two Eagles said, lifting an eyebrow.

Then he smiled. “Ah,
ho
, fireworks,” he repeated before she had the chance to say anything else. “I am familiar with such things. Let me tell you about my first experience with fireworks. Do you wish to hear it?”

“
Ho
, please tell me,” Candy said, truly loving his tales of his past experiences. She could listen to him talk way into the night, once he got started.

“Long ago, on a cold night of the new year, in the middle of the night I heard the firing of guns,” Two Eagles said. “My father shouted the word ‘enemy,’ which meant that he felt that our village was being attacked by our enemies. My father grabbed his firearm and thrust one into my hand although I had not had much practice yet with rifles, while my mother sat trembling and afraid that we would soon be dead.”